So
instead of letting them come to the program, Donna Musso, the program’s
teacher, brought it to them.

“Our
whole theme was we would go to the neighborhoods,” Clancy, 84, said. “In the
beginning, we went anywhere and everywhere … even restaurants.”

The
Library Foundation recently honored Clancy with the Kiplinger Literacy Award
for his service. Clancy served on the Library Foundation Board from 2006 to
2012. During that time, he served as treasurer, vice president and president,
and he has worked for causes such as adult literacy and raised the money to
build an add-on to the Cummings Library in Palm City.

Clancy
found his passion for volunteering when he retired from his job as the
world-wide chief human resources officer for Booz Allen Hamilton, a strategy
and technology consulting firm.

“I
have been in fundraising for a long time,” said Clancy, who has lived in Palm
City for 23 years. “I went to people who were well-to-do and generous. There is
a segment of our society who are very generous with their time and money.”

His
efforts, especially in the area of adult literacy, is something that Clancy
still feels passionate about, even though he isn’t as involved as he once was.

“The
need is absolutely immense,” he said about adult literacy. “It’s amazing the
number of people who drop out of high school at a young age. My thought was
that these are forgotten people who have no one to speak with them, and they
won’t speak for themselves.”READ MORE @

When
I showed up at one of the Dominican
Literacy Center's citizenship classes before November's
election, there were a couple of dozen students in attendance.

These
days, those class sizes have almost tripled, and because of the large number,
"we had to split into two classes and find another teacher to help us
out," said Sister Kathleen Ryan, executive director of the Dominican
Literacy Center.

Family Focusis among the Fox Valley
agencies experiencing a similar swell. Previous workshops introducing the
citizenship process had between 20 to 30 people, said youth development
coordinator Julian Vargas. But at the most recent workshop Saturday, more than
200 Aurora-area residents showed up. Because employees, working 12 hours that
day, were able to only sign up 95, the rest "were told to come back on
Monday," Vargas said. READ MORE @

More
than 80,000 adults in Pima County do not have a high school diploma or GED,
according to Pima Community College.

That
statistic makes them less likely to have a job, and their children mirror their
prospects, said Regina Suitt, a vice president of adult basic education at Pima
Community College. She says the best indicator of how a child will do in school
is his mother's education.

“The
more we help mothers and parents, the more we’re helping children," Suitt
said.

Gov.
Doug Ducey declared thisArizona
Adult Literacy Week, a chance to celebrate those who overcame
the kind of barriers that crop up when someone doesn’t finish high school.

A
high school diploma or GED is one indicator of a person’s literacy, Suitt said.LISTEN